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Without electricity and with trees power lines laying scattered across yards, roofs and streets, residents of Lakeview worked relentlessly Monday to recover from a powerful weekend storm that left destruction in its path.

A Saturday afternoon storm that left many residents in Montcalm County without power did the majority of its damage in the community of Lakeview. According to Lakeview Village Manager James Freed, the damage he surveyed this morning in the community is beyond anything he has witnessed before.

Firefighters in this township tend to stand up for their meetings. It’s not that they’re anxious to be somewhere else — it’s just that in the firehouse, there’s literally no room to sit down, except perhaps on the bumpers and running boards of the crammed-together firefighting vehicles. The current structure is simply too small for the department’s needs.

Between Ionia and Montcalm counties, there are an estimated 8,000 children who are classified as “food insecure” and school officials say that is unacceptable. “When we saw that, we knew we need to do something,” said Deb Wagner, director of grants and special events with both the Montcalm and Ionia intermediate school district (ISD). “Living in the United States of America, we shouldn’t have children going to bed hungry, but we do.”

The Montcalm Alliance may have been in the news lately regarding a failed millage proposal that never even went to a vote, but in the meantime, the Alliance’s executive director has been staying busy working to assist local businesses.

An early-morning fire destroyed the main building at County Line Farms at 13202 22 Mile Road in Spencer Township near Trufant. The Maple Valley Township Fire Department was the first to arrive on scene after the fire was reported around 6:45 a.m. Fire Chief Dan Kain said the building was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.

When you move a house the size of the old Kazmer place, you don’t rush the job. The historic home, which stood for decades at 432 S. Lincoln Ave., rolled Wednesday toward its new location at 220 E. 4th St., across from the Lakeview Wellness Center.

It’s taken hours upon hours of cutting, sewing and stuffing, and there is still plenty more to do. The goal for one Lakeview teenager is to make 550 pressure pillows to be distributed to community hospitals and nursing homes.